As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), certain expansions were required to the Medicaid program. In its landmark ruling on health care reform, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that it was unconstitutional to require states to expand their Medicaid programs as called for in the ACA. Therefore, the Medicaid expansions have become optional to the states.
These expansions are slated to begin January 2014 for those states electing to partake. Under the ACA, if implemented by a state, Medicaid coverage would expand to the majority of people younger than age 65 who fall beneath 133 percent of the federal poverty level. If states do choose to expand as provided for in the ACA, they will have to establish alternative benefit plans for this extended population.
